I never thought going sugar free would be easy, I have to admit, I never thought it would be this hard either.
I don’t want this column to sound like an ongoing session of whining, and so let’s talk about the legitimate troubles of stopping sugar.
I Think the first one has to be restaurants, and for me that means fast food. I love McDonald’s and if all of us were honest we would almost all agree. It’s funny that many people say how bad the food is there. A few blocks from me there is a Burger King, a Boston Market, a Kentucky Fried Chicken/Taco Bell, and an Arby’s as well as a McDonald’s all on the same block. However it is only McDonald’s that ever seems to have a long waiting line. In the rest you are in and out in a few minutes. This food is hard to give up. For now it’s once a week and no soda or dessert is purchased.
Going to the market is hard too. My supermarket has a great bakery, to be honest it has the best donuts I have ever had and I have congratulated the donut maker several times. They a make a dessert called a chocolate bomb that should be illegal. And what is also in the bakery? All the really good whole grain breads. I have not touched a morsel of the sugar filled treats but my eyes get bigger whenever I walk through the place.
Then there’s Juice. I have always loved juice. Not the things like HI C or Hawaiian Punch but fruit juices like grape, white, grape and apple I also have a weakness for Lemonade, but all of that is gone. It truly is not much better than sugar and it must be let go.
I have found some alternatives though. A couple of years ago I fell in love with frozen lemonade. While going through the frozen food department of the store I noticed frozen strawberries. I bought a bag as well as a bottle of Simply Lemonade and put both in the blender. Now that is frozen strawberry lemonade. I have modified this a bit by putting the frozen strawberries in the blender and some real lemon and a bit of Blue Agave. This is exactly the same and my understanding is that lemon juice is ok to use.
I have also found that frozen cherries a bit of Blue Agave, milk and two teaspoon of cocoa powder in the blender makes a great shake. These are satisfying alternatives that I really enjoy. The shake is very filling to. I had one by itself last week and did not get hungry for hours.
No, this road has not been easy, but I will not give up. Time will change my tastes as well as allow me to discover new ways to eat and to be satisfied.
